Startup program windows xp

To modify the list of programs that run when you start Windows, choose one of the following methods. Click Tools , and then click Software Explorer.

Click the application name in the Name column that you want to disable, and then click Disable. By default, Windows Defender is installed as part of the Windows Vista installation. For more information about how to use Windows Defender to scan for spyware and for other potentially unwanted software, visit the following Microsoft Web site:. Important This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly.

Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:.

To do this, follow these steps:. If you do not want a program to run at Startup, find that particular program, and then delete its entry from one of these registry keys. Now go ahead and find the program that you want to have startup when Windows starts. Make sure you locate the EXE file. Now just take that newly created shortcut and copy and paste it into the Startup folder. Should look like this:. Pretty easy eh! The second way you can add a program to startup in Windows XP is to create a scheduled task that runs the program.

The wizard will start. Go ahead and click Next. The first thing you have to do is choose the program you want to run at startup. A list comes up automatically, but you can also click Browse and choose one specifically. Click Next and then choose when you want it to run. In our case, we will choose When I log on. You can also choose When my computer starts , but that will mean it could load before you even log into Windows. Services In Windows XP, it's common to run lower-level applications as a system level service.

Normally, you would locate a service by opening the Windows XP Control Panel and clicking on the Performance and Maintenance link, followed by the Administrative Tools and Services links. This will launch the Services console. Many of the services are critical to Windows. The Registry Editor will allow you to remove any service that you want to. However, if you remove an incorrect service, Windows may not boot back up. INI file. The WIN. INI file is a leftover from Windows 3. Microsoft chose to continue to provide a WIN.

INI file in subsequent versions of Windows as a way of providing backward compatibility for bit applications. If you open the WIN. Both of these lines normally occur toward the top of the file, but can exist anywhere within the file.

Likewise, both of these lines can be used to launch a bit Windows application upon startup. While there is no way to completely prevent a rogue application from using WIN.

INI to be used maliciously. After doing so, flag the file as read only. These files included IO. The IO. BAT files could load drivers or launch other executables. SYS file, but that is beyond the scope of this article. SYS files. COM file still exists. BAT files. NT can be run at startup.